1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and a program for supporting conversation, and a conversation supporting system, and especially relates to an apparatus, a method and a program for supporting conversation, and a conversation supporting system capable of changing information to be provided according to situations of a person and a meeting place so as to support conversation.
2. Related Art
Recently, importance of an informal personal network referred to as community has been noted in corporate organizations and the like. The reason is that informal conversations other than conversations in formal meetings help to promote smooth progress in activities of the organizations.
The informal conversation takes place in such places as the neighborhood of a personal desk, cafeteria, restaurant and hallway, and plays an important role for forming an informal network. The informal conversation serves as a source for inspiring a new hint or expanding an idea, for example.
To initiate informal conversation, a person to talk with is necessary. For example, in a crowded store or train, even if a person whom one wants to talk with is present within the same space, it cannot be recognized that the person is close to him/her, and thus missing a chance of conversation with the person. Also, in communication other than face-to-face communication, such as communication over telephone, one cannot tell situations of a called party; whether a called party can answer a phone call or whether the called party is currently on another phone, until one actually calls, or whether the called party is not near the phone by chance and will return soon, or is out and cannot answer the phone for a while, even after one makes a phone call and no one answers the call. Therefore, conversation is difficult to take place unless one knows such situations of the other party.
To cope with the foregoing situations, an apparatus which uses a camera to take images of the situation of a receiving party to communicate with, converts the situation image into information representing the situation, and transmits the information while privacy is protected is proposed (see Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H9-307868, for example).
Additionally, the informal conversation has such an aspect that it does not take place unless one happens to be present in the same meeting place where a person to talk with is present, and it hardly occurs unless they know each other. This also applies to the communication on a communication network in which the above-mentioned same please is not a physically same meeting place.
Thus, a service is proposed which causes an encounter with other users in a virtual space to give a chance of accidental communication (see Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H8-161398, for example).
In addition, informal conversation does not start until a participant to the conversation makes any utterance or speech. As art of encouraging speaking to activate conversation among participants, an apparatus is proposed which presents an interesting data and the like to a person who has not spoken in a meeting so as to prompt the person to speak (see Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H8-137875, for example).
Further, even though informal conversation started, if subject to talk is scarce, it is highly probable that the conversation does not continue, and ends up with as much as greeting. As art of supporting the provision of subjects, an apparatus is proposed which provides information relating to a subject without interrupting conversation during the conversation (see Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H11-203295, for example)
Additionally, as related art in addition to the above-mentioned art, a system is proposed where agents for users are utilized to mutually transmit relationship among history information such as knowledge and experience, and the agents automatically detect commonness and difference between the users in terms of history information and evaluation information by the users relating to the history information (see Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) 2001-195430, for example).
However, although the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H9-307868 described above provides such an effect that whether a person with whom one intends to talk is absent or not, and whether the person is available are informed, the configuration does not handle such a case as finding an available person among unacquainted people who is familiar with a subject which one wants hear about or to talk about, and therefore, it is insufficient for one to recognize a situation according to one's purpose. Also, this configuration is insufficient for one to recognize a situation when one wants to determine whether to participate in conversation or not, or whether to join a session of the conversation.
The configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H8-161398 is limited to over a communication network. Further, it is not a service intended for conversation, and does not directly lead to supporting the inspiration in conversation.
The configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent publication-(Kokai) H8-137875 requires monitoring speech to examine the situation of the speech. Therefore, the configuration is not suited for supporting informal conversation such as chatting which may take place anywhere.
The configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) H11-203295 only identifies and provides information relating to the same subject, and is not sufficient for providing different types of subject and information for expanding the inspiration in conversation.
The configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent publication (Kokai) 2001-195430 only saves the labor of comparing information among users, and is insufficient for a support to initiate conversation and to keep the conversation in progress.
As described above, the prior art is mostly insufficient for supporting informal conversation. However, if one is provided with awareness information such as information as to who are present in a meeting place and where informal conversation is possible, one can go to a meeting place where specific persons to talk with are present, or, in case one does not care talking with anybody, to a meeting place where somebody to talk with is present. As a result, informal conversation can be easily taken place in such meeting places.
However, providing the awareness information may cause a violation of privacy depending on what is provided.